Sat, 10 Oct 2015 05:19:59 -0700WeeblyWed, 30 Jul 2014 16:48:53 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/bacon-chipotle-tater-tots-michigan-craft-beer-stand-in-comerica-parkThe Chipotle Bacon Tater Tots are my new must buy at Comerica Park. They are locate at the Michigan Craft Beer booth out in in right field. This booth is a must visit. They have a bunch of craft beer and unique food. Food includes a few other loaded tater tots, fried peanuts, bacon on a stick, beer cheese and more.

The perfectly cooked tots come in a large Chinese take-out container. They are then topped with a chipotle mayo of sorts. This sauce is very liquidity which causes it to cover all the tots well but they don’t lose their crispiness. Then a heaping load of bacon bits is placed on top of everything. These are the same bacon bits they use throughout the park and get the job done. I had at least 2 spoonfuls of bacon bits left over at the bottom of the container after I finished the tots. So needless to say they don’t skimp on the bacon bits. The saltiness and crispiness of all the ingredients really work well together and you get a little smoky heat along with it to add that depth of flavor. I really enjoyed these if you can’t tell, and for $6 they are a great buy. I will be heading back to try the other food samplings at the Michigan Craft Brew stand, you should too.

]]>Wed, 23 Jul 2014 19:53:19 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/mudgies-lobster-roll-pulginiI really do love this place. Check out the earlier post for a description of the atmosphere and service. Mudgie’s only has lobster rolls for one week a year and only get so much lobster shipped in fresh each day. On our first attempt they happen to sell the last ones right as we sat down for dinner at 6pm. The next day they sold out by 1pm according to their twitter account. At this point I thought I may never get the Lobster roll, but Mudgie’s stepped up their game. They doubled the amount of lobster ordered and on the second visit we got it (thanks Dave for preordering them, yes I said preorder.) Hope you enjoy the reviews of the Lobster roll and the sandwich I “had to eat” instead of it on our first visit.

Our first attempt at obtaining the infamous Mudgie’s lobster roll was a failure. And by failure I mean I had to eat a different delicious sandwich. The delicious sandwich was the Pulgini. It consisted of a large helping of juicy chicken, artichokes, asiago cheese, spinach, tomato, and House-made pesto. Everything blends together great with the cheese lightly melted over the chunks of chicken and the very tasty pesto smothered on top of the cheese. The pesto is very garlicky for all you garlic lovers (or fair warning for those who don’t like garlic.) This sandwich usually comes on ciabatta bread. However, they ran out of ciabatta bread (not my day). So, I asked the waitress her suggestion for a replacement. She suggested the onion roll. I really liked this, it was a soft bun with a little onion flavor which I thought was a great edition. I may even ask for this in the future as sometime the hardness of ciabatta is not my favorite. While this was delish it was not what we came for and another trip was immediately planned for a few days later.

The Lobster Roll. Finally, one thing checked off the Bucket List. This lobster roll lived up to the hype and price ($16). The simplicity of this sandwich is what makes it so good. It starts with a simple Deli style hot dog bun (cut on the top instead of the side). It is lightly toasted on the outside to provide a little crunch. A small amount of shredded lettuce is added to provide some freshness and crispiness. But, of course the star of the show is the Lobster and there is a lot of it. There is a little mayo and some seasoning but mostly they let the lobster do the talking. This is great because too much mayo and you would ruin the sandwich and make it too heavy. The lobster just melts in your mouth with every bite. To say I enjoyed this sandwich would be an understatement. The crispy bun fresh lobster and just a tad of lettuce and mayo all work great together and make this a must buy for any sandwich lover. Mmmmmm Lobster.

]]>Wed, 09 Jul 2014 18:36:35 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/la-cina-chicken-chipolte-tacosLa Cina is one of my favorite restaurants that no one knows about. It is a tiny Mexican restaurant technically in Detroit on Mack Ave, but it is on the border of Grosse Pointe. There is no alcohol served here which is why I believe they do more carry out compared to dine in, but I prefer to sit down. For one you get all the warm tortilla chips and salsa you can eat and they don’t skimp on these. The salsa that comes with the chips has just enough spice and makes dining in completely worth it. The Prices are reasonable, and you can always find coupons for a few bucks off. For this trip to La Cina I tried something new and an all-time favorite.

First for an appetizer we tried the Spicy Cheese Dip. This comes with more chips, as if the two baskets we ate with the salsa wasn’t enough. The Dip had a strange consistency but was oddly good. The consistency remind me of the classic nacho cheese sauce you would get at a ball game, but with real cheese added in to make it stringy. The cheese sauce also had fresh jalapeno peppers in and on top of it. Also, a few chopped onions for presentation topped the dipped. Getting past the odd texture, this dip tasted great. Obviously, very cheesy with just enough spice to taste the heat, but it was not over powering. I would definitely order this again. Of course by now I was already full but my favorite was still to come, the Chicken Chipotle Tacos.

These Tacos are what started my love for Chipotle flavor. The tacos are served with refried beans and Mexican rice. These are both good, but are nothing special. The tacos on the other hand are worth the trip. They are served in a soft flour tortilla that is slightly grilled to give it just enough crunch and slightly melt the cheese in the inside. The chicken is cut up in good size chunks and cooked in a chipotle sauce. This is what makes it. The chicken is still juicy and the chipotle flavoring is amazing. It has a little heat, not a lot, and a great Smokey flavor. The smokiness of the chipotle and juicy chicken combine and almost give the whole taco a bacon flavor. On top of the chicken there is some Mexican cheese which gets slightly melted from the tortilla and the warm chicken. On top of that is a little fresh lettuce and tomato, which gives a fresh crisp crunch to round everything out. Everything blends together great with these tacos, but the chipotle makes them special. I love going to La Cina, but have a hard time ordering anything different, because the Chicken Chipotle Tacos are so good. I will say if you have room for dessert you must try their version of fried Ice cream. We didn’t have room on this occasion but it is delicious. The ice cream is coated in cinnamon toast crunch and then drizzled with warm caramel. Sorry I don’t have a picture of this, but believe me it is so good. Overall, great food, small building and you’ll get great service because few people eat in. Thanks for reading!

Atwater in the Park is finally open. The newest edition to the Grosse Pointe combines Detroit beer, German food and an 80 year old church. I love the atmosphere of this place inside and out. The seating outside is a bier garten style, meaning it’s mostly picnic style tables and you squeeze in where ever you can fit. Inside has about the same amount as sitting as the outside but also includes a huge U shaped bar. All the brewing equipment is up where eth alter use to be. It is kind of weird seeing the Jesus on the stained glass window blessing the brew equipment, but I also like it. The pews from the old church where repurposed into the seating. All the food is German based for example Wurst plates, schnitzel, and German Pizza. I can’t wait to visit again to try everything.

For our first visit we just sat at the bar and shared an order of pretzels and a flight of beer. I will be going back and providing more reviews of the food, because so much of it looks amazing. My wife and I found the pretzels to be a great deal. At only $4 you got 6 pretzels at varying sizes. To be specific, 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small soft pretzels. They also come with 2 great sauces. The first was a honey mustard that I enjoyed. It was sweet and a little spicy. It was pretty liquidity but I still liked the overall flavor. The second sauce is a beer cheese fondue. This was cheesy and hearty filled with onions and some other veggies it may have just been there beer cheese soup, but im not complaining. The Large and medium pretzels were better than the small in my opinion as I think the small got a little over cooked. I still ate them. These were great with our beers and you can’t beat the price.

Now for the beers. You can get the classic Atwater beers as well as some exclusives to Atwater in the Park. We went with a mixture. The Dirty Blonde is a classic and should be tried by all beer lovers. The Summertime was new to me and I liked it. It has a little bit of citrus flavor perfect for the summer. Think Oberon. The triple and Cottonwood were both exclusives. The Triple was high alcohol content but was not over powering. I’ll have more on the beers as well as we visit the bier garten throughout the summer. Thanks for reading. GO TO ATWATER!

]]>Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:41:04 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/burger-21-sliders-and-cookiesOn my recent trip down to Lakeland Florida I was told I had to stop at Burger 21. This is a chain but is mainly just in Florida. They have everything a burger place should have including fries, sliders, milkshakes, hot dogs, a kids menu, salad (for the healthy people) and the best part Beer. The burgers include beef, chicken, seafood and veggie. This is one of those places were you order at a counter and they deliver your food to your table. To start I just ordered the Bacon sliders, split some fries and a Florida IPA (I’ll put this in the Beer blog soon).

The Bacon Sliders and fries arrived fairly quickly and all the staff was very nice and helpful. We got some Bloomin’ Onion type sauce to dip the fries in but they have a wide variety that you can choose yourself. The Fries were crispy and skinny, with just enough salt. I really enjoyed them with and without the sauce. The fires were good but the sliders were even better. They were cooked perfectly. A nice medium and still remained juicy. Big strips of bacon topped each slider. The bacon had a good smoky flavor that I love. I also got my burgers loaded with lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard. All of these were included in perfect amounts which made the sliders easy to eat. All the sliders bun are attached to each other, but it is easily ripped apart as the buns are soft and warm, with just a little bit of toasting on the inside. This is just enough to keep the bun from getting soggy. Needless to say I was very happy and full with just the sliders and fries. However, that would not be the end of my meal today.

By pure coincidence my cousin Jungle Jim happen to be stopping by his favorite Burger Place in Lakeland. Burger 21. Since we were done eating our dinner already he gave us a suggestion that I truly appreciated. He told us we must get the cookies for dessert. So with little hesitation we did. These cookies are amazing. You will have to like toffee as all of their cookies include a little toffee, but this made them even better in my mind. They had 3 flavors. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Chocolate Chip, and Reverse Chocolate Chip. All of these had just enough chewiness in the center with the slight crunch on the edges. I am usually partial to a reverse chocolate chip cookie but the white chocolate won, by slimmest of margins. However, you really can’t go wrong with any of them. Overall, I really enjoyed Burger 21. Great sliders, fries and cookies. Also, helpful employees. Thanks for reading!

Back to Lunchtime Global!Lunchtime Global is located in the First National Building in downtown Detroit. They have a wide selection of soups that changes every day. Since I love soup and trying new foods, I go hear quite often. This soup was my big foot for the last year. I had a taste of it but I only remembered it was called “lady” something. I would check the menu but never saw Lady again, until last week. I still do not know what is in this soup. I guess I should ask next time they have it, however it really doesn’t matter because it is delicious. It has a creamy, buttery broth that is just out of this world. It has all the basics of a soup, onion, carrots and celery. The soup also includes big hunks of chicken that make it a little heartier. I believe there is also a little rice in it, but I will be completely honest in saying I am not sure. There is just something about the broth that I love and know you will love to so give it a try!Thank you for reading.

]]>Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:33:44 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/mudgies-thats-jaredThis was a long time coming. I have heard from many people that Mudgie’s has the best sandwiches around. Well they did not disappoint. After trying to eat at Mudgie’s a few times and either having them closed or having it be to long of a wait we finally got in on a Saturday afternoon after some prep work on the new Northern location for Pale Horse Brewery. This place is tiny so be prepared to wait for a table or just get carry out. It is located in a converted house in Corktown. We did have great service, which is awesome to see from the hipster community (Hipsters and Dan Gilbert saving Detroit). We sat at two, two top tables next to each other, but we were in different server sections. However, we still got our food at almost the same time. It takes a little while to get your sandwich here, but everything is made to order and is well worth the wait. There are so many unique combinations on the menu and the soups are always something you won’t get anywhere else. I found it very hard to choose which sandwich to get. After a long thought process I finally chose the “That’s Jared” and the Curried Apple Soup.

With my mind finally made up, it was only a short wait for the soup. The curried apple soup is served cold. Usually I am not a fan of cold soup. However, on this hot summer day and after working on the brewery all morning this was rather refreshing. The curry was very prevalent. There was also a hint of cilantro and of course apples. The best way to describe it is a watered down apple sauce with curry and cilantro spices. It tasted better than that sounds. While that was a good starter it’s all about the sammiches.

After a short wait the sandwich came. The “that’s Jared” has house-made corned beef, with Swiss cheese and topped with a scoop of house-made redskin potato salad. All of this is on a Kaiser Roll. It is served warm with a side of spicy mustard. The corned beef was delicious. It was similar to a pulled pork texture without any sauce, chucks of juicy goodness. There was just enough melted Swiss cheese. The potato salad added a crispness and a tad of vinegar, but not too much. The roll was one of my favorite parts. Slightly toasted, but still soft and covered in poppy seeds. It really all came together perfectly. It really didn’t even need the mustard but was a nice change of pace to add to a few bits. Soup good, unique. Sandwich awesome, I’d get it again, but there are so many other ones to try. Thanks for reading.http://www.mudgiesdeli.com/

]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 22:24:17 GMThttp://tcsfoodblog.weebly.com/food-bucket-list/mercury-bar-fried-green-bltMercury Bar is located across the street from Slow's on Michigan Ave in Detroit. The building decor is a little like an old diner. They have a large back patio that is great for a nice summer day. Now when it comes to service and food Mercury Bar can be hit or miss. It is located in hipster central, so you get hipster service, which equals slow in most cases. Just be prepared to wait and enjoy the atmosphere. On this trip I tried the regular poutine and the Fried Green BLT.

The poutine was just alright, not one of my favorites. The fries where over done for my liking, all being very brown which I could still tell even through the gravy. The gravy was also not the best. It was very dark which I don't mind, but just lacked flavor. It needed more salt at the very least. The cheese curds were good just wish there was more of them. For the main course I got the Fried Green BLT

The Fried Green BLT was great. I highly recommend this for BLT or sandwich lovers. There was lots of apple wood smoked bacon on the sandwich. It also had just enough mayo and lettuce. The fried green tomato really added extra crunch and flavor that takes a normal BLT to the next level. I really enjoyed this. Overall good place to try in Detroit. I have heard the burgers and the tater tot poutines are pretty good. I would definitely get the Fried Green BLT again. Thanks for Reading.

On a recent trip to Fabulous Ferndale for the Girls on the Run 5K we stopped in One Eyed-Betty’s for their breakfast. The breakfast is served on Saturday and Sundays from 9am to 2pm and is definitely worth it. The inside of One-Eyed Betty’s gives you that Hipster feel. A few old pinball machines and reclaimed pieces of buildings on the walls. You can either sit at the bar or tables which are either a booth or picnic style tables. Cool vibe and good service, which can be spotty with hipster type restaurants.

To start off brunch I had to get a bloody Mary. Bloody Mary was good. It had a lemon at the bottom of it which provided some tartness, but other than that had a pickle juice flavor. The two best parts to the bloody Mary were the garlic, salt and pepper mix on the rim of the glass and the small glass of Ghetto Blaster you got to wash down your BM. This was good but I should have spent a few more dollars and got the BOTTOMLESS mimosa that my wife got. Great deal if you are thirsty, which she was after running the 5k.

Next my sister-in-law ordered an appetizer. Homemade donuts. These were great. My favorite was the maple bacon. All the donuts themselves had a perfect crispiness on the outside but still soft on the inside. The maple bacon donut had a maple glaze and topped with lots of large bacon chunks. Awesome. The cinnamon sugar was classic and my second favorite. It came with a chocolate dipping sauce which was good but made it a little too dessert like for my liking. The third donut we tried was the peanut butter and sriracha. I usually do like a strange combo like this, but this time it didn’t really work for me. The sriracha just contrasted with the peanut butter a little too much for me. I still finished it off, but not my favorite.

Now, for the main course. I ordered the Two. The Two is an omelet with pork bell, cheese curds, roasted green chilies, French fries and topped with gravy. I called it the poutine omelet, it has all the elements of a great poutine. I was very excited for this omelet and it was good. However, it could have been better. The roasted green chilies where very hot, and I like spicy but these where hot. They also were not well distributed. I got all of them within my first few bites, then no more. The Two also needed more cheese curds. I mean I expect a good amount of cheese in an omelet and I could barely even noticed the cheese. The pork belly and fries where delicious, but what really made the omelet was the gravy. I’m not sure what it was, a cross between sausage and a brown gravy but it tasted great, the only problem was there wasn’t enough of it. So if you get this I would ask for extra gravy and cheese. That being said I was happy with breakfast and very full afterwards.

My sister-in-law also got unique menu item. She ordered the German breakfast. It was a platter of meats and cheeses with bread, butter, mustard and jelly. I really liked this, but would eat it as just an appetizer or snack anytime. My favorite cheese was the Cheddar and chive, it really had a good chive flavor that mixed well with the sharp cheddar.

Overall, I liked it. I will be going back and bringing some friends to share some donuts and a German dinner with and then I will have to try the pancakes with “adult syrup.”Thanks for reading, please share, and if you buy anything from amazon click on the ads here first and support the blog.www.oneeyedbettys.com

During the Memorial Day weekend I had a chance to complete the new loaded dogs at Comerica Park. The Slaw Dog was the final notch on my belt. To be honest I hadn't read what was on it until I started to order the Slaw Dog. The Slaw Dog is your classic ball park dog and bun as always, topped with "Coney sauce" and a sweet coleslaw. The "Coney sauce" is your basic Detroit Coney Island chili, think Lafayette Coney. The coleslaw tasted better than it looks. It had a good crunch and a little sweetness. This combination just wasn’t my favorite. I either want a Coney dog or a dog loaded with veggies not the combination of both. The sweet of the slaw and spicy of the chili didn't work for me, but it may for others. While this really didn’t work for me I have an idea I think the tigers should consider. When I first heard that they were having a slaw dog I thought for sure they would do a Venezuelan dog. With the Tigers seeming to always have a strong Venezuelan presence (Miggy, that’s all that really matters) it just seems to make sense to have this dog in the lineup. The True Venezuelan dog is topped with cabbage (slaw), onion, crushed potato chips, mustard, ketchup, and mayo. I don’t think this would be hard to do. I would say the dog would come with the slaw and onion on it already and come with a bag of chips, and mayo on the side. The Ketchup and mustard can be added by the consumer as is the norm at the park. I would get some back for seconds if they sold this one. Here is my final ranking for the new dogs. 1. Poutine 2. Frank & Beans 3. Late Night 4. Slaw Dog Thanks for reading. Share, follow, like, all that good stuff.